The Lord of the Ice Garden
The Lord of the Ice Garden Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Welcome to Midgaard
- The Scientists
- The Units
- Game Components
- Components Overview
- Setup
- Introduction
- A Game Round
- The Actions
- Unit Activation
- Vuko Activation
- Domination Phase
- Start of the Next Round
- End of the Game
- Individual goals
- Victory points
- Dead Snow
- Advanced Mode
- Solo Variant
- Tips
- Round Summary
- Icon Glossary
- Credits
Welcome to Midgaard
The Mission. To the survivors of the Midgaard II station: I am here to assist you. Ask for Ulf – the Night Wanderer.
Coming to the planet under the guise of Ulf – The Night Wanderer, Vuko Drakkainen's mission is, at first glance, quite simple: to track down those scientists who remain unaccounted for and return them to Earth.
However, this will be harder than it appears. The away team left the Earth as mere scientists, but now obsessed in their pursuit of power and knowledge, ruling this world seems a much more alluring goal.
Raven Shadow. I sell magic items. Do you want a dagger that puts a curse on its owner? A stone that returns when thrown? I have gems, my dear, amulets of ebon dream, and plumage of the thunderbird. I have everything…
Raven Shadow is a mysterious old man, roaming all over the world to sell his magical commodities. He is as wise as he is sour, often meeting the Night Wanderer during his travels. He is extremely knowledgeable about everything that is happening in Midgaard, and will always dispense this knowledge for a price…
Viper Gorge. Go to the harbor called Viper Gorge, where three fjords meet. Autumn is coming, and the ships are heading back from their southern trade routes, dallying at the Great Autumn Fair before returning to their winter beds.
A small town beside three fjords, it is well-known for its large harbor located on both sides of the river. It is an important trading center for the people of the Coast of Sails. Each year, a tremendous, lavish fair is held where commodities from all over the world can be exchanged. In turn, a rally is also held during which all arguments and feuds can be resolved…
Making. Then those who possess the power of magical reserves can breathe life into their thoughts.
The arcane art of Making means creating things through the use of words, gestures, and even thoughts. People who manage to master this difficult art are called Chanters, and the act of Making is called the Chant of the Gods. In order to create something, one must imagine it precisely, down to its most minute detail, lest the making fail. Those who possess magical reserves have the power to become a Chanter. Yet, it is a risky undertaking, since most people are unable to control these powers and will be warped and twisted or torn apart. Each attempt of Making consumes the magical reserves of the Chanter...
Voracious Mountain. I will be swallowed, and then will I stand and face the King of Snakes...
Voracious Mountain is no ordinary mountain. Atop its walls, near its peak are monstrous jaws, ready to eat anyone reckless enough to come too close. However, feeding the mountain reveals a deep tunnel that leads to the lair of a mysterious creature. The winged beast that resides there can quickly whisk the traveler to various lands, thousands of kilometers away. The mountain is well guarded by Those Who Whisper To Shadows. The aim of these hideous creatures is to protect the mountain itself as well as satisfy its hunger…
Dead Snow. This is a different snow. It covers the world like winter, but bears an unworldly aura. It means the end and the beginning. The entire world will fall asleep under its touch, animals and people alike. The Dead Snow will erase their memory from the face of the world...
Dead Snow resembles ash more than snow as it holds no chill. It is closely followed by darkness and fog that causes everyone in its embrace to fall into deep sleep. When they awake, they remember nothing from their past life. Dead Snow means the end and beginning of a new world. It is being sent by the true Gods of Midgaard as the world approaches the eve of its destruction...
The Scientists
Incline thine ear and hear the words of the wise. Listen carefully, wanderer. Get to know those who became the most dangerous Chanters…
Ulrike Freihoff — Nahel Ifrija, the Desert Fire
They say she came from the desert... Straight from the waterless hell of Nahel Zym, where there is nothing but stone, sand and clusters of iron grass.
Like a wildfire, her influence spreads across the land, creating the largest empire Midgaard has ever seen. Her beauty and charisma have made her the spiritual leader of the Underground Mother cult, and the only purpose in life she now sees is in the worshiping of the old beliefs, specifically the fanatical belief that everything belongs to the Mother.
Using her influence, she desires to create her own utopia where her fanatical followers are ready to sacrifice everything in the name of their religion. Freihoff intends to continue researching everything that was forbidden to her by the code of Earth – the collection of the laws established by the Underground Mother cult. She desires to give the world back to the Mother so that everything might become one again; believing happiness will re-enter the world, bringing with it renewed order. At least that's what they say...
She has given orders to build red towers where the Underground Mother cult may flourish. It's also well known that she rules over the silver-masked priests, who are ready to enslave people and perform dark rituals in her name...
Pier van Dyken — also known as Aaken
I create because I must, and this world that gives me that power, it needs my guiding hand.
Lord of the People of the Snake, a twisted artist and innovator, Aaken is possessed by constantly changing visions. In magic, he sees the perfect tool to change the world according to his own cruel whims and fulfill his greatest desire, to create his own contorted works of "art".
Believing himself a God, he sends his faithful snakes in search of new magical reserves, from whence he derives the power needed to breathe life into his visions.
He lives to the South of the Coast of Sails, far away from the Land of the People of Fire. Enclosed within The Thorn, a contorted, spiraling, ever-changing fortress, he experiments constantly with the "M-Factor". He twists the land similar to the paintings of Bosch, seeing in them the most perfect allegory of power.
As though that were not enough of an abomination, rumors of his dark experiments are spreading across the land. People say he is trying to forge an army, consisting not only of his faithful, well-equipped soldiers, but also of armored crabs and wyverns.
Passionaria Callo — Our Lady of Sorrow
It is here she fell asleep in her fears, screaming in her dreams about harm to her valley. And from her screams grew a tree that surrounded her, protecting her, forming an impenetrable tower.
After going insane witnessing unspeakable horrors during the savage clash of Van Dyken and Freihoff, Callo surrounded herself with a tree which she fashioned into a tower. There she fell asleep, and in her dream created a valley separated from the rest of the world, a sanctuary for all those who live within its borders… Whether one wants to or not.
Peace in the land depends on the tranquil sleep of its Lady. Whenever she has a nightmare, misfortune touches the valley. When this happens, those trapped in her dream sing her a lullaby to calm her and return tranquility to their home.
The subjects of Callo are people transformed in her dreams into various, fairy-like creatures. She desires to consume all the regions of Midgaard in her dream, creating a new haven that is free from evil and misfortune. However, be careful, wanderer... They say all who enter the valley with malicious intent will be destroyed by its nightmares.
Olaf Fjollsfinn — Lord of the Ice Garden
I was adrift on the ice; blind and dreaming of a castle that would protect me. For months, I have been trapped in an icy darkness, dreaming of floors, towers and parapets. I knew every corner of the bailey and each chamber inside and out. The Frozen Wastes gave birth to the Ice Garden upon my head.
Changed by the Chant, he went mad and was left by the others to die, abandoned to the icy seas. Yet, he survived, awakening the Ice Garden within himself – a citadel located in the heart of a volcanic island that exists upon his head. He designed his castle as a refuge for those seeking to escape the horrors of war ravaging the land; thus, he constantly sends ships of ice in search of new inhabitants for his solitary keep.
Rumor has it that the Chanter kidnaps sailors from Wolfships, and the soldiers he forges from molten rock plunder coastal villages...
The Units
Listen to the words of an old man, wanderer. Listen because he speaks wisdom. Hear the stories of those who pledged their allegiance to the Chanters...
Freihoff's Units
Moonlit Brother. You shall be as moonlit brothers. Those who are weak shall be nourishment for the others. According to the beliefs of the Underground Mother cult, the Mother gave birth to two brothers who number amongst her servants. They were born as men – whose only purpose is to serve the Underground Mother. Faithful and resolute, this growing army of brothers complete all orders without question or complaint. Their symbol – the two moons – which every soldier of the Underground Mother cult bears on his shield and armor...
Enlightened Ones. But priests are outside the castes; as Enlightened Ones they are above everything. Followers of the Underground Mother holding the highest positions within the cult's hierarchy, these Enlightened Ones are considered neither women nor men – they are instead perfect creatures of unity. These priests, always wearing silver masks and hiding their bodies behind crimson robes, not only perform bloody rituals, but also enforce the Underground Mother's rule. They also make sure that the Code of the Earth is strictly respected...
Harrasim. It was a war that took place in the dark and silence, fought by people who were seen by none. The Order of Silent Ones' devotion to the Underground Mother cult is absolute. They are an elite division of impeccably-trained spies and assassins. Fanatic worshipers considered invincible by most, they also posses the power of Makers. Each of these Makers has gone through murderous training since their youth, full of pain and humiliation in order to become an unwavering and resolute servant; a chamber spy...
Van Dyken's Units
Crab. The creature was hellishly fast. A clicking, chattering horror. Inside its thick, scaly armor and behind two nightmarish, sharp scythes for claws, there is tissue similar to that of a shellfish. Aaken has given orders for his followers to kidnap small children, who are then being changed into Crabs through the use of magical reserves. Short, agile and intelligent, confident of their power, they spread terror amongst their enemies, killing anyone who recklessly strays too close...
Piper. Standing in front of the gate, the creature picked up its strange flute and played. The sound was that of a screaming woman. Terrifying, tormented and fearful, never seeming to pause for breath. Looking like a monk with a rat's skull for a head, this hellish piper is another creation of Van Dyken. When threatened, it is able to change its body into hundreds of pudgy moths and scatter itself to the wind. It emerges near settlements, using the sounds of its organ pipe to hypnotize children into following him directly to the King of Snakes...
Wyvern. As it rolled into a turn and dove, it fell wing over tail, and gracefully completed three loops before changing into a sinister smoke, moving with the grace of a harp being strummed by the hand of a dancer. Wyverns are the crowning achievement of Van Dyken's studies of dragons. He could not overcome the laws of physics, thus he changed his tactics and created a semi-tangible wyvern, lighter than air. In one moment, it looks like a steam cloud, the next a giant, fanged beast that tears its hapless enemies to pieces. Yet, its brute strength is not everything. The immaterial beast can cause powerful discharges of lightning to spew from its huge muzzle…
Callo's Units
Wild children. All of those maimed things were yelling out in ghastly voices as they surrounded us. We could only swing our swords and dodge their claws, jaws and javelins in the heart of the frenzy. They were once innocent victims of the war of the gods, brought back to life when the dream of the Lady of Sorrow engulfed them, making them its guardians. When the Lady is sleeping, her children appear to be part of the valley surrounding her. However, once someone dares to disturb the peace of the valley, these wildlings go berserk and are ready to kill any intruder…
Faun. And then the fantastical creature put a short, thick pipe against its mouth and started to play by tapping his fingers. The melody was curious, unlike anything I had heard before. He stands as an impressive figure with the massive arms and torso of a man, the furry thighs and thick hooves of a horse, and a ram's horns crowning his brow. Guardian and guide of the valley, he forever carries a pipe on which he plays his sad melodies. Its solemn tunes are the only thing that can calm the anger of the wild children and lull the Lady of Sorrow back to a peaceful slumber...
Nightmare. Sometimes the Lady's slumber was beset by bad dreams. 'Twas then that we would run inside and bolt our doors, burning incense and candles, singing soothing songs to calm her tormented soul. When troubled by evil, the Lady of Sorrows' dreams turn to nightmares, taking form and unleashing her fear upon the peoples of the valley. Impervious to spear or sword and made of a howling savagery born of pure terror, the only way her worshipers can dispel this blight is through song and prayer. The Nightmare drives her Wild Children berserk with hate and horror such that nothing can stop them. Woe unto those who are touched by the sorrow of the Lady…
Fjollsfinn's Units
Volcano People. It happened that strange, half-human warriors came out of the sea at night to plunder coastal settlements. They were monsters similar to the ghosts from the fog, The Awakened, but these were corporeal creations.. Created by a song, these molten warriors are sent to plunder coastal villages and kidnap their residents. Hulking and mysterious, born from fire, ice and rock, they are ready to serve their Lord...
Ice Drakkar. The Ice Drakkar glided across the river; the only sound the splintering of a thin layer of ice as it plowed through, startling the flocks of water birds that were perched on the pier. One of the most perfect creations of Fjollsfinn, the Master of Ice. These massive, semi-transparent vessels are more technologically advanced than any ship of the people of the Coast of Sails. Fast and elegant, unhindered by wind and sea currents, these sculpted icebergs can be used during combat missions and as a means of transport for large groups of asylum seekers…
Tree Brothers. But Tree Brothers are the most frightening warriors that the world could imagine. They will fight to protect the Garden and are not afraid to die for it. The Tree Brothers are an elite troop within the Ice Garden and Fjollsfinn's personal bodyguards. Since Drakkainen took command over them, they no longer participate in open battles. They are now responsible for the quiet removal of enemy leaders and commanders. They have become assassins, shadows of darkness, perfectly trained and extremely dangerous. Tree Brothers are ready to sacrifice their lives to protect the Ice Garden and its Lord...
Game Components
- This Rulebook
- 1 Game Board
- 4 Player Aids
- 4 Character Boards
- 24 Resin Units
- 6 Callo Units: 3 Wild Children Units, 2 Faun Units, 1 Nightmare Unit
- 6 Dyken Units: 3 Crab Units, 2 Rattling Musicians Units, 1 Wyvern Unit
- 6 Freihoff Units: 3 Moonlit Brothers Units, 2 Enlightened Ones Units, 1 Harrasim Unit
- 6 Fjollsfinn Units: 3 Volcano People Units, 2 Iced Drakkar Units, 1 Tree Brother Unit
- 12 Round Markers (3 in each player color)
- 20 Action Markers (5 in each player color)
- 80 Influence Markers (20 in each player color)
- 5 Action Order Tokens
- 20 Unit Upgrade Tokens
- Region-Scoring Tiles
- 6 Two Player Region-Scoring Tiles
- 7 Three Player Region-Scoring Tiles
- 8 Four Player Region-Scoring Tiles
- 8 Independent Nation Markers
- 1 Dead Snow Marker
- 7 Magical Reserve Tokens
- 4 Full Magical Reserve Tokens
- 3 Empty Magical Reserve Tokens
- 1 Thorn
- 1 Vuko Drakkainen
- 24 Population Tokens
- 22 Gold Tokens
- 16 M-Factor Tokens
- 4 Nightmare Tokens
- 2 Locked Region Tokens
- 6 Red Tower Tokens
- 10 Vuko Tokens
- 4 Vuko Scenario Tiles
Components Overview
Character Boards. After selecting a character to play, each player receives the corresponding Character Board, which contains a units upgrade track that is used to store gathered M-Factor Tokens.
Resin Units. Each character comes with a corresponding set of 6 Units they can recruit and command during the game.
Round Markers. Round Markers are used to represent the player's turn order, each Character's reputation and achieved victory points.
Action Markers. Each player receives 5 Action Markers which are used throughout the game to execute actions on the game board.
Influence Markers. Each player receives 20 Influence Markers which are used to represent a Character's influence in particular regions of the map.
Action Order Tokens. Are placed in designated areas of the Action Box. In Advanced Mode of Play, these allow players to rearrange the order in which actions are resolved. In standard mode of play however, their order and thus the order of actions, remains unchanged throughout the course of each round.
Unit Upgrade Tokens. By spending M-Factor tokens players can upgrade their Units' Attack value, Shield level, Dominate ability and Speed. A purchased upgrade is placed on the Character Board in a designated empty space on the Unit Upgrade track.
Region-Scoring Tiles. Depending on the number of players in the game, certain Region-Scoring Tiles will be used to determine what regions are in play, and the order in which region dominance is resolved. Each tile shows the number of resources that may be collected by players dominating in that region, as well as victory points that will be shared among players with the most influence.
Independent Nation Marker. Each region in play contains elements of resistance unwilling to stand by any of the Scientists in play. This resistance is represented by Independent Nation Markers and is taken under consideration when counting influence in the region.
Dead Snow Marker. As the Characters grow in power through the usage of the Making action, the Dead Snow Marker travels on the Dead Snow track to trigger an imminent end of game.
Magical Reserve Tokens. Are used to represent a region rich in M-Factor magic. These regions will yield one additional M-Factor token in the Domination Phase.
Resource Tokens. Population, Gold and M-Factor are the main resources in the game. Players will use these to pay for actions during the Action Phase, and purchase Unit Upgrades.
Vuko Drakkainen, Tokens and Scenario Tiles. Vuko Tokens are used to represent Vuko's increased efforts to discipline the least reputable Character. When received, they are placed on the Character Board to represent a player's decreased influence in the region Vuko is currently present in. Vuko Scenario Tiles are used only in the Advanced Mode of Play and represent Vuko's increased efforts to discipline The Scientists on Midgaard. Adding these will introduce random events at the beginning of each round, affecting the game mechanics and lasting through either one turn or the remainder of the game.
Character Specific Components. Nightmare Tokens and Locked Region Tokens for Passionaria Callo, Red Tower Tokens for Ulrike Freihoff, and the Thorn for Pier van Dyken are used by the corresponding Characters to represent progress towards their Individual Goal.
Setup
1. Unfold the game board and choose a side to play on (both sides are identical except for the color design). Place all tokens into separate piles within reach, forming the stock besides the play area. The person who most recently finished a fantasy novel shall be first player. If no such person can be determined, the first player should be chosen randomly.
2. Each player chooses, either collaboratively or randomly, one Character Board. Then each player takes all of the Action Markers, Round Markers, Influence Markers and Units in their character color. The red player will also take the Red Tower tokens, while the green player takes the Nightmare and Locked Region Tokens.
3. Each player takes their starting resources: 4 Population Tokens, 2 Gold Tokens, and 1 M-Factor Token. Players place Gold and Population Tokens next to Character Boards, while the M-Factor Token is placed on the level 0 field of their Character Board.
4. In descending player order players place each of their Round Markers in three identical stacks on the Reputation track, the leftmost helm of the Initiative track, and the Victory points track. The first player's Round Marker will be on the top of each stack, and the last player's Round Marker will be on the bottom of each stack. From now onwards, the Markers in each of these stacks will be referred to as the Reputation Marker, Initiative Marker and Victory Marker as per corresponding track.
5. Choose a set of Region-Scoring Tiles matching the number of players and shuffle them face-down. Next, in the player order determined by the stack of Round Markers on the Initiative track, players will take turns placing one tile face-down in an empty region until all tiles have been placed.
Important: In a 2 and a 3 player game, some of the regions on the map will remain empty. These empty regions are unavailable and may never be moved to or through during the game.
6. If Van Dyken has been chosen as a character, the Thorn figurine will now be placed in a region determined by the Van Dyken player.
7. Shuffle face-down 4 Magical Reserve Tokens with a number of Empty Reserve Tokens equal to the number of players so that there is on token for each region in play. Place one token face-down in each region.
Important: The region with the Thorn will never start with a Magical Reserve, so one less empty Magical Reserve is required if Van Dyken is in play.
Next, reveal the Magical Reserve Tokens and remove all Empty Reserve Tokens from play. Finally, reveal and examine the Region-Scoring Tiles.
8. Now, in the player order determined by the stack of Round Markers on the Initiative track, players will take turns placing two Influence Markers in 2 different regions. A player may not start the game with his two starting Influence Markers in the same region, but he is allowed to share a region with another player's Influence Marker.
9. Once each player's starting influence has been assigned, One Independent Nation Marker will be placed in each region in play. Place The Dead Snow Marker on the Dead Snow track at 0.
10. The Action Order Tokens should now be placed in order from 1 to 5, on the designated areas starting from the Action Box directly below the one already printed with 0.
Advanced Mode only. For an advanced game, either choose the order of or randomly place Vuko Scenario Tiles in the empty Game stage boxes of the Initiative Box. For details on Advanced Mode please see the Advanced Mode section.
Introduction
Hail scientist of Earth -- It seems you have traveled the stars to battle for the fjords of Midgaard with beast and steel, succumbing to a hunger for magic and power.
Object of the Game
Players will use their influence and Units to battle and dominate regions of Midgaard. They do this with intent to collect resources, score points and complete their own asymmetric win conditions. However, because of limited magic, full-frontal conflict will not always be your best option. Withdrawals at key moments, resource management, strategic deception and tactical timing are all important elements of the game.
Overview of Play
Lord of the Ice Garden is played over a number of consecutive rounds. Each round will consist of several phases. Here is the basic overview of each phase.
Initiative Phase. After the first round ends, players must move their Initiative Markers. After moving, players will take a number of Action Markers, depending on their location on the Initiative track. These Action Markers will allow players to initiate actions in the Planning Phase. A player's Initiative Marker location will also determine the player's turn order for the round.
Planning Phase. Players will take turns placing their Action Markers on numbered spaces in Action Boxes. Available actions are limited to the printed numbers in each Action Box.
Action Phase. After placing all of their Action Markers, players will remove them in descending numeric order (in the reverse order they were placed), executing relevant action as they do so. Once all the Action Markers have been removed, combat will be decided before Vuko visits and moves against the least reputable player in the game.
Domination Phase. Each region under a player's influence (from Influence Markers and player Units) is resolved. During this phase players will collect resources, score points if necessary, activate the special abilities of Units, and work towards their asymmetric goals.
End of game. The game is played until one of three victory conditions has been met or the last helm of the Initiative track has been resolved. The three conditions that end the game are: an immediate end by the overuse of magic, a priority win by achieving an asymmetric victory condition, or finally, a victory for the player with the most Victory points after 50 is reached on the Victory points track.
Advanced Mode. After your first battle for the hearts and minds of Midgaard, we hope you will soon be back to try out the Vuko Scenario Tiles in Advanced Game Mode.
A Game Round
What say you, wanderer? Do you feel cheated? Are you asking about the story itself? Believe me, you will write it yourself, as you wish...
Each round consists of the Initiative, Planning, Action and Domination Phases.
Initiative Area
The game is divided into four game stages. Each stage has its own Empty box, two or three helms for the Initiative Markers, two or three Ships for the turn order, and three to five green cubes indicating the number of Action Markers available.
Vuko boxes. In advanced mode, Vuko Scenario Tiles will be collectively decided upon or placed randomly in the Vuko boxes. These tiles will show a unique event that will only be active while the rightmost Initiative Marker on the Initiative track is directly below it.
Initiative track (helms). During setup, Initiative Markers are placed on the leftmost helm. They should be stacked in descending starting player order.
Turn Order track (numbered ships). Player order is not only resolved from right to left but is also determined by the order numbers (1, 2, 3) on the numbered ships. Players with their Initiative Markers on a ship labeled 1 will always take their turns before the players with their Initiative Markers on a ship labeled 2, who will always take their turns before players on a ship labeled 3.
If there are two Initiative Markers above two different ships of the same number, the rightmost ship will be resolved first. This sounds straightforward, but when crossing between game stages you will often have players take turns in an unusual order.
Important: If there is a stack of Initiative Markers, then players will take turns in descending order, the topmost Initiative Marker taking his turn first.
Example: When changing a game stage, you might see Initiative Markers above ships in the following order from left to right: 3, 1, 2. In the above example, the Green player will take his turn first, followed by the Red player, and finally the Blue player. Therefore, the ships will be resolved in the following player order: 1, 2, 3 (Green, Red, Blue).
Initiative Phase
During the Initiative Phase players will choose to advance their Initiative Markers by one or two spaces. After all players have moved their markers, each player will take the amount of Action Markers corresponding to his location on the track. Deciding which is more important to you each round, available actions or turn order, is one of the key mechanics to the game.
Moving Initiative Markers. In the first round, Initiative Markers are NOT moved. Each player will start his first round with three Action Markers and in advanced mode the leftmost Vuko Scenario Tile active.
After the first round, players will decide how far to advance their Initiative Marker. Players must always advance at least one helm. However, ONCE per game stage, a player may decide to move his Initiative Marker two spaces instead of the usual one. The first player of the previous round will always move his Initiative Marker first.
If any marker lands on or passes a helm with a corresponding red ship, region scoring will occur during the Domination Phase. If it is the last ship on the track, the game will also end at the end of this round.
For example, in player order, the blue player moves once, the black player twice, the green player once and the red player twice. Now, red is first, blue second, black third and green fourth.
Collecting Action Markers (varying numbers of cubes). After Turn order is determined, each player will take a number of Action Markers equal to what is indicated by their position on the Initiative track. If a player is above an icon of 4 Action Markers, he will have 4 actions available to him during the Planning Phase of that round.
Planning Phase
During the Planning Phase, players will place their Action Markers into available Action Boxes, numbered 0 to 5. Each of the boxes represents a specific strategic action resolved during the Action Phase. In advanced mode, starting from the second round, players will also decide in what order actions are resolved by placing the Action Order tokens before placing Action Markers. See Advanced Mode for details.
Placing Action Markers. In player order, each player will place one Action Marker at a time on the leftmost-available numbered field in any available Action Box. If there are no unused numbered fields remaining, then no more Action Markers may be placed in that Action Box. Viper Gorge is the only exception to this rule. Placing an Action Marker in the Viper Gorge does not require an available numbered field.
Viper Gorge. The Viper Gorge action may be taken multiple times per round. Whenever a player places an Action Marker in Viper Gorge, he must also place an influence Marker there.
Any Influence Markers placed in Viper Gorge remain here till the end of the game and are considered removed from the player's available supply. At the end of the game, the player with the most Influence Markers in Viper Gorge will receive an additional 5 victory points.
2-player: Moving, Voracious Mountain, Raven Shadow, and Making actions can only be selected three times each during a round. (As indicated by black number in each Action Box)
Action Phase
Action Boxes are resolved according to the Action Order Tokens, from 0 to 5. Action Boxes 6 and 7 are resolved during Activation steps. Players resolve their actions by removing one Action Marker at a time. Action Markers should be removed starting with the highest number field, moving from right to left. After all Action Markers in an Action Box have been resolved, players resolve the next Action Box in order.
You are NEVER required to use an action Marker. You may place action Markers to block or bluff opponents and then remove your Marker without taking the action.
Action Boxes Legend. Action Boxes contain symbols representing specific actions, game resources, board game areas or Unit characteristics. Please familiarize yourself with these or refer to this legend should any of the symbols be unclear: Action; Reputation track; Dead Snow track; Gold Token; Population Token; M-Factor Token; Any one of the three resource types; Victory points; Vuko Token; Vuko Drakkainen; Unit.
The Actions
Viper Gorge
In Turn Order players may take one or both of the following actions:
- Receive ONE M-Factor, Population or Gold Token. This action may be taken ONCE per Action Marker.
- Exchange any combination of TWO tokens for one of any other token. This action may be taken multiple times.
For example, one Population Token and one Gold Token may be exchanged for one M-Factor which is then placed on Level 0 of your character board.
- If M-Factor is used during an exchange, it must come from Level 0 on your character board.
- Don't forget that Influence Markers will remain in Viper Gorge after the action is complete.
Influence
Spend one or two Population Tokens to place the same number of Influence Markers in any region or regions in which you ALREADY have influence from either Influence Markers or Units.
Move
Spend one or two Gold Tokens to assign that many moves to any of your Influence Markers or Units on the board. Then move your Influence Markers/Units to any adjacent regions as per moves assigned.
The same Influence Marker or Unit may be moved twice in one Move action for two Gold.
2-player and 3-player: Influence Markers and Units may NEVER be moved to or through a region without a Region-Scoring Tile. You will have to move your Units around an empty region.
Voracious Mountain
Spend two Population Tokens to move any number of Influence Markers and/or Units from one region to any other one region.
Raven Shadow
You may take one of the following actions:
- Spend one M-Factor Token from level-0 on your Character Board to discard one Vuko Token.
- You may move your Reputation Marker up two spaces.
Moving on the Reputation track. Some of the actions in Lord of the Ice Garden will require players to increase or decrease their reputation. Please follow those few rules when moving Reputation Markers on the Reputation track, as the order of markers placed there will be important during Vuko Activation.
- When moving up the Reputation track, your Round Marker is always placed on the BOTTOM of a Reputation Marker stack.
- Once your marker has left the yin-yang "safe zone", it can never return. The highest your Reputation can be raised is to 0 reputation on the Reputation track.
- When moving your Reputation Marker down the Reputation track your Reputation Marker is always placed on TOP of the stack.
- Players with their Reputation Marker on top of a stack have the worst reputation level in the stack. This will be crucial during Vuko Activation if the stack is lowest on the Reputation track.
- You can still spend reputation even if your Reputation Marker is on -9 reputation, your reputation won't lower any further.
Making
Making is one of the most powerful actions in the Midgaard universe. It allows players to move M-Factor Tokens between levels to summon and upgrade their abilities. The three below making actions may be taken once, in any order.
- Redistribution of M-Factor Tokens
- Upgrading Unit/s with a new ability
- Summoning
1. Redistribution of M-Factor Tokens. Move the Dead Snow Marker up by one and your Reputation Marker down by one to move any number of the M-Factor Tokens along the Unit Upgrade track of your Character Board by a total of 5 moves. You may distribute up to 5 movement among any number of the M-Factor Tokens on your Character Board. You may distribute the 5 moves in any fashion to move any number of M-Factor Tokens in either direction on the Unit Upgrade track.
2. Upgrading Unit/s with a new ability. Move the Dead Snow Marker up by one and your Reputation Marker down by one to purchase one upgrade for a Unit type on your Character Board.
Unit upgrade cost and rules:
- Pay one M-Factor Token and one Gold Token to upgrade a Unit type with Attack or a Shield.
- Pay one M-Factor Token and one Population Token to upgrade a Unit type with Dominance.
- Pay two M-Factor Tokens to upgrade a Unit type with Speed.
- Any M-Factor spent to make a purchase must come from Level 0 on your Character Board.
- You may not upgrade (cover) abilities printed on the Character Boards.
- You may however replace previously bought upgrades when purchasing new one.
- Neither Level 1 nor Level 2 Unit types may be upgraded with an already existing ability.
- Only Level 3 Units may be upgraded with the same ability multiple times.
3. Summoning. Choose a Unit to be summoned. With M-Factor Tokens assigned to that Unit level, pay 1 M-Factor token per Unit summoned. Move the Dead Snow Marker up by one and your Reputation Marker down by the Unit level multiplied by the number of Units being summoned.
For example, if you summon two Level 2 Units, it will cost you a total of two M-Factor Tokens and four reputation – the level of the Unit × the number of Units summoned, 2×2=4.
Place the now summoned Units in any region or regions you currently have influence due to either Influence Markers or Units.
- You may summon multiple Units of the SAME TYPE per each Summoning action.
- You require two Making actions (two Action Markers on the Making Action Fields) to summon two different level Units in a single round.
- Units are limited by their available supply. If all player Units of a level are already on the game board, no additional Units of that level can be summoned.
- Summoning Van Dyken's Crabs costs an additional -2 reputation PER MAKING ACTION, not per Crab.
In the below example, the Van Dyken player spends two M-Factor from Level 1 of his Character Board to summon two Crabs to two different regions where he already has influence. The reputation cost from summoning the two crabs is the level of the Crab Unit (1), times by the number of Units being summoned (2), plus the special Crab modifier of 2, equaling a cost of 4 reputation.
Unit Activation
After all Action Markers have been resolved, players now activate the available abilities of their Units (Action Box 6). Each ability is resolved one at a time as depicted on the game board.
The resolution order is as follows:
- Maker-Spy
- Ice Floe Crossing
- Speed
- Attack
- Removing defeated Units
The Speed and Attack abilities, as well as Removing defeated Units must be resolved in player order.
Maker-Spy
If Ulrike Freihoff's Level 3 Unit, the Harrasim, is on the game board, the Ulrike Freihoff player may assign two DIFFERENT abilities to the Maker-Spy spaces on the character board. Abilities may be reassigned at the start of every Unit Activation each round.
For example, you are NOT allowed to have two attack abilities on the Maker-Spy spaces. However, you MAY complement the Maker-Spy abilities with additional attack upgrades for the remaining two blank spaces the Harrasim has, as Level 3 Units may have the same upgrade multiple times.
Ice Floe Crossing
This ability is only activated when the Olaf Fjollsfinn player has two Ice Drakkars on the board in two different regions. When both are present, they will allow the Olaf Fjollsfinn player to move any number of his influence Markers and/or Units between the two regions. The Ice Drakkars themselves may NOT be moved using this ability.
Speed
A player MAY move all of his Units with this ability one space to any adjacent region with a Region-Scoring Tile.
Attack
Units with the Attack ability may perform attacks against enemy Units, enemy Influence Markers, and Independent Nation Markers in the same region. Each player declaring to attack must pay 2 Gold Tokens to cover the cost of all of his attacks performed that round. First, the attacking player chooses any regions containing his Units with the Attack ability. Then the player resolves the attacks in the regions chosen, region by region, by pooling the attack values of his attacking Units in one region, and distributing each point of damage as they desire in that same region.
- Level 1, 2 and 3 Units are defeated after 1, 2 and 3 damage respectively.
- Influence Markers and Independent Nation Markers are defeated after taking one damage each.
- Damage is NOT accumulated between rounds. If a Unit is not defeated that round, it will start the next round at full health.
After all damage has been assigned, players will receive victory points as follows:
- 1 victory point for every Level 1 Unit, Influence Marker, or Independent Nation Marker defeated,
- 2 victory points for every Level 2 Unit defeated,
- 3 victory points for every Level 3 Unit defeated.
Important: A defeated Unit is NOT immediately removed from the game board. It should be first laid on its side to indicate it has been defeated and can't be the target of any further attacks. Defeated Units may still perform attacks in the current round before being removed from the game board in the last stage of Unit Activation (Removing defeated Units).
After a player resolves all attacks in the regions of his choice, his Attack ends and the next player in Turn Order may pay 2 Gold Tokens to carry out the attacks of his Units. Any player may pass on the Attack stage, without performing any attacks and thus not paying 2 Gold Tokens.
Shield
This ability improves the defense of a Unit. Any Unit with a Shield ability will require one more damage per Shield to be defeated. For example, a Level 1 Unit with one Shield ability will require two damage to defeat it.
Removing defeated Units
After all declared attacks have been resolved, players remove their defeated Units. Removed Units are returned to the player and may be summoned with the Making action next round. Defeated Units DO NOT lose any previously purchased upgrades.
Vuko Activation
Vuko Drakkainen (Action Box 7) enters play only if any of the Reputation Markers has left the yin-yang area on the Reputation track. If that isn't the case he remains inactive until the next Vuko Activation stage, in next round.
If Vuko Drakkainen enters play, move him to a region where the player with the worst reputation score on the Reputation track has the most influence (from both Influence Markers and Units). Next carry out the steps of Vuko's influence in that region.
If Vuko Drakkainen is already in play, Vuko must move to a region where the player with the worst reputation score on the Reputation track has the most influence in (from both Influence Markers and Units). If Vuko is currently in the region where the least reputable player has the most influence, he MUST move to the next available region.
- The ONLY exception to this rule is if the least reputable player has ALL of his influence in a single region. Only in this one case will Vuko remain in the same region at the start of the Vuko action.
- Vuko may NOT enter a region locked in a nightmare.
- If the least reputable player has equal influence in two regions, the tie is broken by Vuko going to the region with the lower number on the Region-Scoring Tile.
For example, if Vuko is currently in a region where the least reputable player has 5 influence, Vuko will now move to the least reputable player's next most influential region with 3 influence.
Vuko Drakkainen Influence
After moving, Vuko does the following in the strict order:
- He gives the least reputable player one Vuko Token.
- Vuko kills one Unit of the least reputable player in that region. If the player has more than one Unit in that region, the player may choose which one is defeated and instantly removes the Unit from the game board.
- Vuko takes temporary control of some of the Influence Markers present in the region he's currently in. EACH PLAYER will place Influence Markers equal to the number of Vuko Tokens they currently possess behind the Vuko figure. These Influence Markers will NOT be included when determining region dominance in the upcoming Domination Phase.
- In Advanced Mode, Vuko will have additional abilities as depicted on the Vuko Scenario Tiles. These abilities should be resolved now. Some of these abilities, such as "Fire People" and "Those Who Whisper to Shadows" would have been active earlier during the current round.
Domination Phase
In the Domination Phase, players will try to accomplish their individual goals before receiving resources from the Region-Scoring Tiles and Magical Reserves.
They will also score victory points if it is a region-scoring round, as determined by the red ships on the Initiative track.
Regions are always resolved in ascending order as determined by the RED numbers on the Region-Scoring Tiles.
It is important to resolve each tile one at a time, fully assigning resources and points before moving on, as events in later regions could change the dominance in previously resolved regions.
Any Influence Markers under Vuko's temporary control will NOT count toward region dominance.
Determining Domination
Both Influence Markers and Unit/s influence add up to a player's total influence in a region. Each Unit grants as much influence as its level in the region in which it currently resides. (Level 1 Unit: 1 Influence; Level 2 Unit: 2 Influence; Level 3 Unit: 3 Influence.)
Units upgraded with the Dominate ability will grant one additional influence for every Dominate ability on a Unit.
Independent Nation Markers. A large brown marker represents an Independent Nation's influence. Independent Nations resist when players try to dominate a region.
Each Independent Nation Marker is worth one influence in the region is resides. A player with influence in a region equal to an Independent Nation influence will NOT dominate that region, thus will NOT collect resources or victory points in that region.
There will be NO tied domination calculations with an Independent Nation.
Tied domination
If two or more players have equal influence in a region, then they count the sum of their influence in all adjacent regions. Whoever has the higher total wins the Domination battle in that region. If there is still a tie, the player with the best reputation on the Reputation track dominates that region. The Reputation Marker on the bottom of a stack has the better reputation and breaks the tie.
In the above example, the red player is the winner as he has two influence in adjacent regions to green's one.
Region Domination Order
If Van Dyken dominates the region containing the Thorn, the Thorn will automatically absorb any face-up Magical Reserves at this time. Any absorbed Magical Reserves are removed from the game board. This is not an ability, it is an automatic event.
1. Determining Domination: Determine the player with the highest influence over a region, and check if he/she can dominate the region.
2. Activating Special Abilities: The most influential dominating player in a region must activate any special abilities possessed by their Units in that region. Multiple Units of the same type may NOT both activate their SPECIAL abilities in the same region.
- Recruitment (Olaf Fjollsfinn's Ice Drakkar Unit): Take the influence Marker of an opposing player to the Ice Garden.
- Piper (Pier van Dyken's Rattling Musician Unit): Receive one Population Token.
- Pillage (Ulrike Freihoff's Enlightened One Unit): Take one resource token from an opposing player in the same region. This includes M-Factor from anywhere on the opposing player's Unit Upgrade track.
- Torment (Passionaria Callo's Nightmare Unit): Place a Nightmare Token in the region.
- Enthral (Passionaria Callo's Faun Unit): Replace the influence Marker of another player with one of your own, if possible. If you have no more influence Markers available, nothing happens.
3. Events: After all special abilities of Units in this region have been activated, check if any of bellow event conditions have been met:
- If two Nightmare Tokens and a Faun are present in a region dominated by Passionaria Callo, the region automatically locks.
- If an Enlightened One is present in a region dominated by Ulrike Freihoff, a Red Tower is placed there. Each region may only contain one Red Tower.
- If a Rattling Musician is present in a region dominated by Van Dyken, any available Magical Reserves are moved to the region containing the Thorn. Any Magical Reserves moved to the Thorn must be placed face-down until the end of the round.
4. Resource Collection: In the order from the most to the least influential player in the region, each dominating player collects resources from this region by choosing one of the depicted resource types (Gold, Population or M-Factor) and collecting the amount of that resource as listed on the tile. Each resource type may only be claimed once per Region-Scoring Tile. Thus, if four players are present in a region, the last player will not get any resources.
5. Magical Reserve: If there is a face-up Magical Reserve in the region, the most influential, dominating player in the region takes one M-Factor Token per face-up Magical Reserve and places it on level 0 of the Unit Upgrade track.
6. Victory point Scoring: If, during the Initiative Phase, a red ship was reached by an Initiative Marker, assign victory points to the players in the region now. Red ships are scored only once. This means that Victory point scoring may occur up to 4 times throughout the course of the game. Once in the second and third Game Stage, and twice in fourth Game Stage. If both red ships are reached simultaneously in the last round, region-scoring occurs twice in a row.
Victory points (the white numbers on top of each Region-Scoring Tile) are assigned to players in order of dominance. The most influential, dominating player in the region receives the highest number, second place receives the next highest number, and so-on.
After completing Victory points scoring in one region, go to the next region in order (red numbers) on the Region-Scoring Tiles and repeat all steps of Region Domination for that region.
7. Flipping-up Magical Reserves: After all regions have been scored, any Magical Reserves that were moved this round to the Thorn by Van Dyken are flipped face-up. Van Dyken will be unable to move a Magical Reserve to the Thorn and absorb it in the same round.
Start of the Next Round
At the start of each round, if any player has 1 or 0 Influence Markers on the game board, they may place an additional 1 or 2 Influence Markers, respectively, in any region. That player may also take an additional two Population Tokens.
End of the Game
Stay a while yet, wanderer. The hour is not so late; let an old man finish his tale…
The game may be ended by one of three things: the individual player goals, victory points, or by the Dead Snow.
- An individual goal will end the game at the end of the current round if it is completed during the Domination Phase. Individual goals have priority over ending the game by victory points and therefore, if a player completes his individual goal and another player reaches 50 victory points in the same round, the former will win the game.
- Victory points will end the game at the end of the round in which a player reaches 50 victory points or the last helm on the Initiative track has been scored.
- Dead Snow will end the game immediately if the Dead Snow Marker reaches the limit on the Dead Snow track during the Making or Vuko actions.
Individual goals
Each player has an individual goal that may be completed in the Domination Phase. The objects of the individual goals, i.e. the Nightmare Tokens, Red Towers, and Magical Reserves, may NOT be attacked in any way.
Resolving individual goals
If any player manages to complete their individual goal, the game ends at the end of the current round after all Region-Scoring Tiles have been resolved.
If two or more players have accomplished their individual goals in the same round, they will compare their victory point scores. The player with the most victory points will win the game!
If several players are tied for the most victory points, i.e. their Victory Markers form a stack on the victory point track, then there will be multiple winners.
Olaf Fjollsfinn
Fjollsfinn wins at the end of the round in which he has recruited 6 Influence Markers of opposing players to the Ice Garden. He does so by using his Level 2 Units, the Ice Drakkars.
If an Ice Drakkar and one or more Influence Markers of opposing players are in a region dominated by Fjollsfinn, he may take one of those Markers and place it in the Ice Garden at the top left of the game board.
- Markers of Independent Nations may NOT be recruited.
- Two Ice Drakkars in the same region may NOT recruit two influence Markers. They may only recruit once per region.
Unit Notes
- Ice Drakkars are NOT restricted to regions on the game board that appear connected to the sea.
- Ice Drakkars may NOT relocate themselves using the Ice Floe Crossing ability.
- Having two Ice Drakkars on the board is required for use of the Ice Floe Crossing ability during Unit Activation, but NOT for the Recruitment ability during Domination.
Pier van Dyken
Van Dyken wins at the end of the round in which the Thorn has absorbed 4 Magical Reserve Tokens. During the Domination Phase, the Thorn will absorb all face-up Magical Reserve Tokens in its region as long as Van Dyken dominates that region in the same phase. Van Dyken moves the Magical Reserve Tokens to the region containing the Thorn by using his Rattling Musician Units.
If both a Rattling Musician and a Magical Reserve Token are in a region dominated by Van Dyken, the Magical Reserve is moved to the region containing the Thorn, face-down.
Face-down Magical Reserve Tokens will be flipped face-up at the end of the round. This prevents any player dominating that region from collecting M-Factor from the Magical Reserve that round.
Unit Notes
- Population Tokens for the Piper ability are taken from the available supply, NOT from opposing players.
- Two Rattling Musicians in the same region may NOT receive two Population Tokens. They may only receive one Token per region.
- The Thorn is worth 0 influence.
- The Thorn is able to absorb multiple Magical Reserves in a single round.
Ulrike Freihoff
Freihoff wins at the end of the round in which she has built six Red Towers in six different regions. Red Towers are built by her Level 2 Units, the Enlightened Ones.
If an Enlightened One is in a region dominated by Freihoff that does not yet contain a Red Tower, a Red Tower is placed there.
Unit Notes
- When pillaging a resource by using the Pillage ability, Freihoff may take a single resource from any player who has influence in a region she is dominating and place it in her play area. If an M-Factor Token is taken, it MAY be taken from any level on the affected characters Unit Upgrade track, but MUST be placed on Level 0 on the Freihoff's Character Board.
- Two Enlightened Ones in the same region may NOT pillage two resources. They may only pillage one resource per region.
- Red Towers are worth 0 influence.
Passionaria Callo
Callo wins at the end of the round in which she has locked two regions in her nightmares.
A region is locked in a nightmare by use of Callo's Level 3 Unit, the Nightmare, and her Level 2 Unit, the Faun.
First, when the Nightmare Unit is in a region dominated by Callo, a Nightmare Token is placed there.
Next, if a Faun is in a region containing two Nightmare Tokens, it will automatically become locked after all other Special abilities have been resolved.
- A region containing a Red Tower MAY be locked, but the Red Tower still counts towards Freihoff's individual goal.
- The only region that may NOT be locked in a nightmare is the region containing the Thorn, if Van Dyken is in play.
Resolving a region locked in a nightmare
- All Units, except for the Faun, are considered defeated and immediately removed from the game board. This includes ALL opposing players' Units, Callo's Nightmare, Wild Children and a second Faun, if present. Units defeated in this manner do NOT earn Victory Points for Callo.
- Half of Callo's Influence Markers (rounded up) stay in the region. The remaining Influence Markers are moved to adjacent regions in a manner determined by the Callo player. The remaining Influence Markers are left in the locked region and will be unavailable for the rest of the game. The remaining Faun may remain in the region until it is moved to a new region on a future turn by the Callo player. Once the Faun has left the locked region, it may never return there for the rest of the game.
- All Influence Markers of opposing players must be redistributed to adjacent regions in the manner determined by their owners, in player order. Any Independent Nation Markers in the locked region are removed from the game board.
- Nightmare Tokens are removed from the region and a Locked Region Token takes their place.
- If there is a Magical Reserve Token in the locked region, it is moved to the adjacent region with the lowest number on its Region-Scoring Tile. This new region may NOT already contain the Thorn or another Magical Reserve token. If moving to such a region is impossible, the Magical Reserve is placed in the next available region with the lowest region number anywhere on the game board.
- If Vuko is present in the region, he will move to the least reputable player's most influential region in the following round, as usual.
- Starting from the next round, the locked region is unavailable, meaning:
- No further actions may be performed in the locked region, other than to relocate the Faun on a future turn by use of a Move action. Once the Faun has left the locked region, it may never return.
- Callo MAY collect victory points from the locked region during red ship rounds.
- Callo may NOT collect resources from the region.
- Vuko may NOT be moved there.
2-player: If a region becomes locked before Freihoff can place a Red Tower, Freihoff will be unable to complete her individual goal and will have to pursue a Dead Snow or victory points win instead.
Victory points
The game will end by victory points in one of two ways:
- At the end of the round in which one or more players have reached or surpassed 50 points.
- If a player surpasses 50 points, they may still score more victory points. To keep track of these, return their Score Marker to spot 1 on the Victory point track and continue scoring.
- After the round in which the 4th red ship has been scored and no individual goals have been achieved.
Victory points are acquired during the game from defeating opposing Units, Influence Markers and Independent Nation Markers, as well as from Region-Scoring Tiles on red ship rounds.
Game end by victory points
- After all Region-Scoring Tiles have been resolved, the player with the most Influence Markers in Viper Gorge gains an additional 5 points.
- The player with the most victory points wins. If several players are tied for the most victory points, i.e. their player Markers form a stack on the victory point track, then there will be multiple winners.
A player's Individual goal takes priority over ending the game by victory points.
Dead Snow
The Dead Snow will fall as soon as the Dead Snow Marker reaches the limit, sending the world into a deep sleep.
Only a player that will win the game from doing a making action may do so. The Dead Snow limit is determined by the number of players:
- In a two-player game, field number 18.
- In a three-player game, field number 24.
- In a four-player game, field number 30.
Resolving Dead Snow
- The player whose action resulted in moving the Dead Snow Marker to the limit must immediately take one Vuko Token.
- All players will calculate their new reputation by subtracting 2 reputation from their current reputation level for every Vuko Token they possess. Players will remain in the same stack order if necessary.
- While calculating your new reputation level, it is possible to go lower than -9.
- The player with the best reputation wins! In the event that two or more players finish the game in a Reputation Marker stack, the player on the bottom of the reputation stack has the better reputation and will win the game.
Advanced Mode
For players who have already had the chance to fight over the power of Midgaard, we recommend the Advanced Mode; which grants more power to Vuko in the form of scenarios, and adds a tactical element allowing players to change the order in which Action Boxes are resolved.
Vuko Scenario Tiles
During setup of the game, players add up to 4 Vuko Scenario Tiles to the empty Game Stage Boxes of the Initiative Area. The tiles may be either chosen collaboratively or randomly placed.
Vuko Scenario Tiles are two-sided. One side grants Vuko additional abilities for the current game stage only. ONLY the Vuko Scenario Tile directly over the rightmost Initiative Marker will activate. This side of the Vuko Scenario Tile will have no arrow.
The other side grants Vuko an ability from the moment of its activation until the end of the game. These abilities are represented by an arrow mark on its side of the Vuko Scenario Tile.
- Fire People. When Vuko leaves a region, he takes any Independent Nation Markers along with him. In this fashion, he gathers his entourage. This will increase the minimum influence requirement of a region by one per Independent Nation Marker.
- Those Who Whisper to Shadows. Using the Voracious Mountain action will cost 3 Population Tokens instead of 2.
- Nightwalkers. In the region visited by Vuko, each player removes one of his own Influence Markers for each Vuko Token in his possession. These Influence Markers are considered defeated by Vuko. For each marker removed this way, the player discards one Vuko Token.
- Both bears. Vuko moves the Dead Snow Marker up by one. If the game is ended this way, no player gains a Vuko Token for initiating the end of the game by Dead Snow.
Action Order Tokens
Initiative Phase: Starting from the second round, before placing any of their Action Markers, players will decide in what order Actions Boxes will be resolved during the Action Phase of that round. In player order, players will take turns placing the Action Order Tokens in empty Action order fields between Actions 0 to 6. This step is repeated at the start of every Planning Phase each round (from the second round onwards).
Solo Variant
The game was designed for and is best played with three or four players. However in an unlikely situation of being left alone on your board gaming night we encourage you to try out the solo variant. To play it, you will have to use a six-sided dice (not included in the game set).
Set up the board for a 2-player game. The NPC gets no initial Influence Markers placed on the board.
Play the game as normal with the following alterations:
- The Reputation track is not used in the solo variant.
- An NPC Initiative Marker is not required on the Initiative track.
- Action Markers are not placed for the NPC player.
- After the first round, the player is ALWAYS visited by Vuko.
- If reputation breaks a tie, the player will always lose.
Difficulty Levels
Easy. No other changes.
Medium. Play with the Vuko Scenario Tiles.
Hard. Same as Medium difficulty, but also during set-up, place a Level 3 Unit for the NPC on the board before placing your starting influence. Determine the Unit's starting region with a die roll.
True Scientist of Midgaard. Same as Hard difficulty, but also fill all available upgrade slots of the NPC's Character Board with an attack upgrade if possible, then shields, then influence.
EVERY time an Action Marker is resolved, follow these three steps:
- Roll the die for the NPC character.
- Do an action for the NPC character, according to the die result and which Action Field is being resolved. The die result will correspond with the red number on a Region-Scoring tile. This is the region in which the NPC will take their action.
- Remove your Action Marker from the Action Field and take your action. (The NPC's action may cause you to change your previous plan.)
Solo: Action Phase
BEFORE removing a marker from an Action Box, roll a six-sided die and do the following action depending on the Action Box being resolved.
Vipers Gorge. Do nothing.
Influence. Place two Influence Markers in the region number rolled.
Move. Place two Influence Markers in the region number rolled.
Voracious Mountain. Place two Influence Markers in the region number rolled.
If all Influence Markers are ever exhausted, a Level 1 Unit should be placed there instead. If no Level 1 Units are available, then nothing happens.
Raven Shadow. Do nothing. Only the spend one M-Factor to discard one Vuko Token action is available to the player.
Making. Move the Dead Snow track up by 2, then summon all of one level of Units in this order, Level 3, Level 2, then Level 1. Roll the die once for each Unit summoned, placing the Unit in the region number rolled. The highest level Units available must always be summoned first.
For example, if a Level 2 Unit has been previously defeated and returned to the NPC, than that single Level 2 Unit will be summoned again before the Level 1 Units on a future making action.
NPC Units will never be upgraded.
Combat. NPC Units always attack if the Unit has an attack symbol. The NPC will always prioritizing killing the highest level Units possible over Influence Markers. Points for defeated Units will be scored for both the NPC and player. The Harrasim should always be set to attack and defense.
If both Ice Drakkars are on the board and the NPC is dominating both regions, nothing happens. If the player's influence only exists in one of the two regions, all of the NPC's influence will be placed in that region. If both regions contain the player's Influence Markers, the player will roll the die. [1–3] all of the NPC's Influence markers and Units will be placed in the lower numbered region. [4–6] all of the influence will be placed in the higher numbered region.
Vuko. After the first round, Vuko will always visit the player, whether they have used the Making action or not. If the player uses the Making action on the first round, then Vuko will visit the player on the first round.
Solo: Domination Phase
Resolve each region as usual with the following exceptions:
- The NPC receives no resources.
- If the player is second in dominance order for a region, the player cannot collect any resources on the Region-Scoring Tile with a 2. Any single resource with a 1 is allowed.
- Red ship rounds are resolved as normal with points being scored for both the NPC and the player.
- NPC special abilities are resolved as usual.
- If the NPC is resolving The Enlightened Ones, they will always pillage a single resource based on a die roll: [1–2] Population, [3–4] Gold, [5–6] M-Factor from your highest available level on your Unit Upgrade track. If none of that resource is available, roll again.
Solo: Start of the next round
Moving Units. All Units except those still trying to achieve an individual goal in a region (see below), will be relocated at the start of each round. Roll the die for each Unit and relocate them to the new numbered region.
If the die is rolled for a region where an individual goal has already been resolved by either the NPC or player (for example, a Red Tower has already been placed there), the die will be rolled again.
If two Nightmare Tokens are already on the board in a single region, one of the present Fauns must be immediately moved there. A second faun can be rolled for as normal.
- It is allowed for multiple NPC Units to occupy the same region.
Units that will not relocate:
- The Nightmare trying to place two Nightmare Tokens
- The Enlightened Ones trying to place a Red Tower
- The Rattling Musician trying to relocate a Magical Reserve
- The Ice Drakkar if the NPC is dominating the region and there are Influence markers belonging to the player still there.
Solo: End of the game
All normal victory conditions apply. Remember, the player always loses reputation ties and therefore is guaranteed to lose if the game ends by Dead Snow.
Tips
Opening Moves
2x Influence + 1x Move. The most common opening move is to try to dominate 2 or 3 regions. Depending on the amount of conflict that occurs, you should be able control and collect resources from 3 different regions.
2x Influence + 1x Viper Gorge + 1x Making. A great opening move is to use Viper Gorge once to collect one M-Factor Token, then exchange up to 6 of your starting resources for 3 more of M-Factor. This will allow you to get your Level 2 Units on the board in the first round so you can get a head start working on your individual goal. Don't forget Vuko will soon be paying you a visit, though.
1x Influence + 1x Move + 1x Viper Gorge. Although you won't control more than 1 region with this opening move, you will be poised to place Influence Markers and/or Units in up to 4 regions at once on the next turn. This will give you more flexibility with early planning as other players can't anticipate where you'll focus on building your influence yet.
2x Influence + 1x Viper Gorge + 1x Making + 1x Upgrade. Use the Viper Gorge to take an M-Factor Token and change two Population Tokens into another M-Factor. After placing your two Influence Markers in a single region (ensuring Vuko will visit that region as it is devoid of Units for him to kill), use your M-Factor to create a Level 1, 2 or 3 Unit with the Speed ability upgrade. You'll be able to move to an adjacent region to try and take control during Unit Activation. It's a fantastic opening move if you intend to score an early win by individual goals; just remember Vuko visits the region with the lower region number in case of a tie.
Due to the high reputation penalty for summoning Van Dyken Crabs, this tactic is not recommended for the Van Dyken player.
Strategy Tips
- You want to be first player on the Initiative track when you want to be the first to place Action Markers in the Influence and Move Boxes. This will allow you to be the last player to place or move influence on the game board as you will be the last player to remove your Action Markers from those respective boxes.
- You will want to be last player on the Initiative track when you want to use the Speed ability of your units after all other players. This will allow you to do a surprise move that cannot be counted. You can be more influential in a given region, move out of harm's way from an opponent's attack, or move into position for an unexpected offensive attack yourself.
- Ulrike Freihoff's Level 2 Unit, the Enlightened Ones, are able to pillage M-Factor from any level on an opponent's Character Board. Keep this in mind if you are positioning M-Factor for use in a future round.
- It can be very important to be the first to place your Action Marker on the Making action. It gives you the flexibility to know how much reputation can be spent without Vuko visiting you. Or it allows you to bluff and not take an action at all, guaranteeing that Vuko will visit another player.
- Remember, it costs 2 Gold Tokens to attack, but an increase in influence is free. Choosing Speed and Influence for the Harrasim Unit is a good way to escape dangerous regions and dominate less crowded ones.
- If Vuko is currently in a region containing an Ice Drakkar and the Olaf Fjollsfinn player is currently the least reputable player, he may want to move all of his Level 1 and 3 Units using the Ice Floe Crossing ability to this region protecting them from Vuko, who will have to move to a different region later in the round.
- Speed gives you a lot of flexibility with surprise attacks and retreats. Because the movement action for the Speed ability is after the normal Move action, opponents can never be sure which adjacent region you may move to next.
- Defeating a region's Independent Nation Marker will allow you to dominate the region with only one Influence Marker or Level 1 Unit.
- One Shield ability on a Level 2 Unit will help you withstand one Van Dyken Crab attack.
- It's always a good idea to plan ahead so that if you are the least reputable player, you can send Vuko to a region where you have no Units present (i.e. where the total value of your Influence Markers is higher than any region containing Units) or a region where you can let him defeat a Level 1 Unit, protecting your Level 2 and/or Level 3 Units.
- Upgrading the Ice Drakkars with the Speed ability will allow them to slip into a lightly-defended area of the map after the standard Move action has finished and capture isolated enemy Influence Markers. Or, move to a region dominated by another player and prepare to transport a large group of Units there on the next round with the Ice Flow Crossing ability.
- Be careful of the fact that Magical Reserves are moved to the Thorn before you can collect M-Factor.
- Prepare for the last region you will construct a Red Tower by having lots of influence waiting for you there, as every player will move to the region with intent to stop you.
- It is common to focus on the regions you are placing nightmare tokens too much early in the game. Be sure to focus on dominating several regions or you will become starved for resources.
Round Summary
Initiative Phase
- Move Initiative Markers
- Determine player order
- Collect Action Markers
Planning Phase
- (Advanced Mode) From 2nd round: place Action Order Tokens
- Place Action Markers
Action Phase – resolve Action Boxes 0 to 5
Unit Activation. Activate Units abilities in the order depicted on the game board
Vuko Activation
- Move Vuko Drakkainen and receive a Vuko Token
- Defeat one Unit
- Put Influence Markers under Vuko Drakkainen's temporary control
- (Advanced Mode) Resolve the Vuko Scenario Tile/s
Domination Phase. Resolve each region, one at a time, in ascending order
- Determine Dominating Player
- Activate Special Abilities
- Resolve Events
- A Faun and 2 Nightmare Tokens lock a region
- Enlightened Ones place Red Tower/s
- Rattling Musicians move Magical Reserves to the Thorn, face-down
- Determine Order of Dominance
- Collect Region Resources
- Collect M-Factor from a Magical Reserve, if present
- Victory point Scoring on Red Ship Rounds
(Complete all steps for one region before moving to the next)
Flip-up Magical Reserves
Icon Glossary
Unit ability icons: Maker-Spy; Ice Floe Crossing; Speed; Attack; Shield; Dominate; Recruitment (Olaf Fjollsfinn's Ice Drakkar Unit); Piper (Pier van Dyken's Rattling Musician Unit); Pillage (Ulrike Freihoff's Enlightened One Unit); Torment (Passionaria Callo's Nightmare Unit); Enthral (Passionaria Callo's Faun Unit); Unit; Magical Reserve; Moving Magical Reserves.
Board and resource icons: Action; Reputation track; Dead Snow track; Gold Token; Population Token; M-Factor Token; Any one of the three resource types; Victory points; Vuko Token; Locked Region Token; Nightmare Token; Red Tower Token; Building Red Towers.
Credits
The Lord of the Ice Garden, second edition. REDIMP, Prosta 244, 43-376 Kalna, [email protected], www.redimp.pl
- Designer: Krzysztof Wolicki
- Artist: Dominik Kasprzycki
- English rule book: Isaac Hayward, Karolina Lewanowicz, Michał Lewanowicz
- Solo variant designer: Isaac Hayward
I dedicate the game to my wonderful children, Wiktoria and Kinga, and I thank them for the patience and forbearance during the time I was occupied with designing this game. Special thanks to Jaroslaw Grzędowicz for the license.